A mass entertainer, not a social drama

Sathya is being exploited by a journalist in the newspaper who has been replacing his signature in the comic strips.

Pranati A S,

Jul 15 2023, 01:06 ist
updated: Jul 15 2023, 05:22 ist

Maaveeran

Tamil (Theatres)

Director: Madonne Ashwin

Cast: Sivakarthikeyan, Aditi Shankar, Mysskin, Saritha, Sunil, Yogi Babu

Rating: 3/5

‘Maaveeran’ is a political satirical action film that explores the lives of people living in inadequate circumstances, who are exploited by politicians during elections.

The film starts with a comic artist, Sathya (Sivakarthikeyan) drawing a comic strip in one of the slums around Chennai. Soon the entire slum is asked to vacate with the promise of a 1BHK apartment, which is fulfilled immediately. However the building is poorly built and the people start to face severe problems.

In the film, Maaveeran is a comic strip that has been in publication for 60 years. After a head injury, Sathya starts hearing a strange voice that calls him Maaveeran (a mighty warrior), telling him to protect his people from a notorious politician.

Sathya is being exploited by a journalist in the newspaper who has been replacing his signature in the comic strips. Madonne Ashwin explores the lives of underprivileged people who are oppressed by the ones in power.

Similar to the director’s first film, ‘Mandela’ (2021), ‘Maaveeran’ too is set during the elections and explores how the common people are sugarcoated and misused for their votes. Both Mandela and Sathya are self-centred protagonists. While Mandela enjoys the luxuries given to him by both the parties, Sathya is not ready to rebel (unlike his father) despite the many hurdles he faces, he fails to take a stand even as a contractor tries to abuse his sister. Sathya seeks a decent paying job to take care of his family. However, change and realisation comes subtly to Mandela, whereas Sathya enjoys an over the top transformation.

‘Maaveeran’ will surely keep your eyes glued to the screen, it has a good mixture of comedy, seriousness and entertainment. The film, however starts getting over dramatic post interval diluting the seriousness of the issues presented, thus leaving it only as a commercial entertainer.

The film seems more like a Sivakarthikeyan mass movie than a Madonne Ashwin social drama.